OK, Jeep went to dealer service and their diagnostic flagged up 3 transmission faults. I actually went in for a thermostat change as the Jeep was running cool - they didn't do this as they said the diagnostic came up with transmission problems not engine ones. I don't have the codes but I'm looking for reassurance here. One of the codes was low lube or something similar, another was something to do with ratio on 1st gear out of alignment. Anyway, they said my EMS needs some flash updates, too. What I'm wondering is, am I screwed? Are transmission faults fatal? Is it likely the updates would sort out the faults?

The car is an 03 with 83,000 miles on it 2.8 CRD Ltd AUTO. Been good to me right up until now.

The dealer has asked to have the vehicle for three days to do more tests which include draining some of the oil in the transmission to see what they can find. They said that worst case would be new transmission which would not really be viable given the jeep's overall value.
What does anyone think?

What would I experience if there really were these kinds of faults? To me the transmission has been fine and not something I would have thought was a problem. I've no onboard dash lights coming on - would that mean it's not too serious? I'd hate to right the truck off but a new transmission would probably be way too much to throw at it.

Thoughts, help, reassurance?

I think one code was:
P0731 Gear Ratio Error in 1st
P0944 or P1791 certainly said Loss of Prime but not sure which code.

Clear the codes and see if they come back, it maybe something already fixed and someone forgot to reset the codes. The thermostat is important if you want good heat and fuel mileage. You can get an inline one that is easy to install yourself.

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JEEP the toughest Four Letter Word In Off-Road

I have no clue about the 03 model but the 05 and 06 can loose fluid from the torque convertor due to a bad check valve in one of the filters and if that happens the vehicle can throw a code with or without stalling upon first engagement of a cold tranny although 1) if it does the check engine light comes on and 2) I don't know what the codes are as I've never tried to pull them since they go away after about 3 restarts. The solution is a good tranny service flushing as much old fluid as possible; install new filters; and new ATF+4 tranny fluid.

Don't know if this will help your situation but it is a thought.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs